Mohassess’s faun sculpture returns to view after decades
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Ab-Anbar Gallery is exhibiting Bahman Mohassess’s Faun Musician sculpture at Frieze Masters in London, after it disappeared from public view since the 1980s.
Mohassess, an Iranian artist, originally created the nude sculpture in 1971 for a plaza in Tehran at the request of Queen Farah Pahlavi. Though initially covered due to its nudity, the sculpture became a popular meeting place, but the 1979 Islamic Revolution led to its removal and a 20-year period where its location was unknown.
A photograph later revealed the sculpture broken into pieces in the basement of the Tehran Contemporary Art Museum. The version now on display is one of three casts Mohassess made, a 1.2-meter-high piece from a private Italian collection, and marks its first showing in London since 1980.
The gallery, which relocated from Tehran to London in 2020, is presenting the work as part of the “Queering Modernism” section of the fair, highlighting Mohassess’s focus on the human condition and exploration of male figures.
